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This invention relates to trestles, and more particularly, to a trestle which may be used for supporting work, which is readily adaptable to works of many sizes, and which is easily assembled and disassembled.

Trestles of the type which are commonly called sawhorses are old and well-known. Most such trestles are permanently assembled and are used to removably support pieces of Work which are placed on their top surfaces. Because they are rigidly assembled, the prior art devices have not been readily portable. They were also not readily adaptable for purposes which were widely diverse. The transportation of a permanently assembled sawhorse becomes a nuisance when such supports are earried by workmen from one job to another. A simply constructed trestle which is readily adaptable for many purposes, supports work of many natures and, moreover, is portable and compact is a desirable and useful tool.

Prior art trestles were constructed of a pair of legs rigidly and iixedly connected by a plurality of cross members. Several cross members were required on each trestle to provide the necessary strength. Because of the number of parts required, prior art trestles were not easily disassembled or assembled and were relatively expensive.

It is an object of this invention to provide a new and improved trestle.

It is another object of this invention to provide a new and improved trestle which is readily assembled and disassembled.

lt is a further object of this invention to provide a trestle which is relatively simple in construction, yet is adaptable 4for many purposes.

It is yet another object of this invention to provide a new and improved trestle of the sawhorse type, which trestle is readily assembled and disassembled to provide substantial portability, is adaptable for many types of work, and is simply and easily constructed from a minimum of parts.

Still further objects and the entire scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter; it should be understood, however, that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications in the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. l is a perspective view of a pair of trestles constructed in accordance to the principles of this invention in operative relation to a piece of work;

Fig. 2 is an end View of the structure of Fig. l;

Fig. 3 is an elevational view, enlarged, of one of the cross members of the trestle of Fig. l;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of a portion of the ends of the legs of the trestles of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a reinforcing cross member which may be used.

Smtes Patent 0 "P 2,986,230 Patented May 3Q, 1961- ige Referring now to the drawings in detail, the reference character 11 designates a work piece supported upon two trestles 12 and 13 placed at opposite ends of the work. Each of the trestles 12 and 13 are identically constructed and comprise two straddled identical legs 14 and 15 connected together by cross members 16 and 17. The legs 14 and 15 are tubular in form and are bevelled at their top surfaces as better shown in Figs. 2 and 4 to provide a flattened portion 25 at an angle with the longitudinal axis of the tube to grip the side of the work 1,1. An opening 26 is provided in the tubular wall of each of the tubular legs 14, 15 and said opening 26 extends along the longitudinal axis of each of the tubular legs 14 and 15. The cross members 16 and 17 are fastened together and to the legs 14 and 15 by means of bolts 23 which pass through corresponding holes 1S, 19, and 21. If de# sired, washers such as 24 may be used together with the'.

bolts 23. The lower end of each leg 14 and 15 may be fitted with an appropriate friction cup 22 formed of rub.

ber, synthetic resin, or other suitable material. The cross members 16 and 17 which are identical, are illustrated in Fig. 3. The holes 18, 19, and 2K1 are placed off-center, closer to one side of the member 16 than to the other, rather than along its center line. A single hole 21 is lformed in one end of the member, and at least a pair 0 holes 18 and 19 in the other end.

Each of the legs 14 and 15 is provided with at least one perforation adjacent its bevelled edge by which it can be fastened to the cross members 16 and 17. In assembling a trestle, a cross member 16 is attached on each side of a leg 14 by passing a pin, bolt, rivet, or other such means 23, through the hole 21 and the perforation in the leg. One cross member 16 is positioned with the holes 18, 19, and 21 adjacent the upper edge, and the other cross member 17 is positioned with holes 18, 19, and 21 adjacent the lower edge. This causes the cross member 1'7 to be higher on the leg 14 than the member 16. The other leg 15 is then attached to the cross members 16 and 17 in the same manner, using either hole 18 or 19, depending upon the thickness of the work to be supported;l Additional holes and perforations in both the legs and the cross members may be used, of course. v

The legs 14 and 15 may then pivot sideways about the bolt 23 which passes through the two plates 16 and 17 and each leg to clamp the upper work piece 11 between the upper at portions of the ends 25. In this manner, the work piece rest upon the members 16 and 17 and is firmly held by its own weight on the members causing the legs 14 and 15 to tend to move farther apart at the lower ends and to more tightly graps the work in their bevelled jaw portions 25. The members 16 and 17 are assembled so that the outside member, shown in Fig. l at 16, has its holes 18, 19, and 21 positioned near the upper edge of the member, whereas the inner member 17 is arranged with its holes along the lower edge. In this manner, a bolt 23 passing through the two cross members 16 and 17 and the legs 14 and 15 causes one of the two members to be upwardly displaced from the other. Thus, when the work piece 11 is rested upon the tops of members 16 and 17, the legs 14 and 15 slope with respect to the vertical with their lower ends extending outwardly of the work piece 11 to provide a parallel top surface upon which the work 11 is supported. This provides an unusually strong and rigid support structure.

The trestle is readily disassembled by removing the bolts from either leg of each trestle, and allowing the cross members 16 and 17 to rotate about the bolt 23 on the other leg. The parts may then be arranged or fas' tened in any suitable fashion to be carried from one place to another.

Fig. 5 shows an additional reinforcing cross member 40 which may be used to strengthen the trestle. This um u,

member is elongated and is somewhat longer than the member 16 of Fig. 3, and is `formed at one end with a slot 41 and at the other end with two elongated slots 42 and `4,3. Such a cross member Q may then be placed between each pair of legs `14, 15 with the slot 41 receiving a bolt or other projection 14a carried by the leg 14 and one of the two holes 42, 43 receiving a bolt or other projection 15a carried by the leg 1S, as shown in Fig. 2. The purpose of making the holes 42, 43 elongated is to allow the legs 14 and 15 to swing outwardly7 Within limits, under the influence of a downward force applied on the work piece 11.

If desired, the cross member 40 may be made of two individual parts which are hinged together, so as to allow the member to be folded when it is not in use.

From the above description, it becomes apparent that the trestle of this invention provides a rigid support structure with only one set of cross members, whereas the prior art trestles have required at least two such sets for strength and rigidity. In addition, since all of the legs, all of the cross members, and all of the bolts are identical, they may be mass produced in great quantities from any suitable materials such as iron, steel, aluminum, synthetic resin, pressed and impregnated paper, and the like. The parts are interchangeable and fewer parts are required, reducing the initial costs and the maintenance costs. It is realized that this description may indicate to those in art other ways of utilizing the principles of this invention, and it is therefore intended that this invention be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A support trestle for supporting a piece of work comprising, in combination: a first tubular leg and a second tubular leg, one end of each of said legs being bevelled to provide smooth jaws for gripping an object to be supported; a first cross member and a second cross member, each of said cross members being provided with a plurality of perforations located therein, said perforations in each of said cross members being closer to one longitudinal edge of said cross member than to the other longitudinal edge; a pair of bolts for connecting together said first and second legs and said rst and second cross members; and an additional reinforcing cross member longer than said rst and second cross members, said additional reinforcing cross member being formed at one end thereof with an opening adapted to receive a projection carried by said first tubular leg and formed at its other end with a pair of openings elongated in the direction of the length of said additional cross member and adapted to receive a projection carried by the second tubular leg, whereby when said first and Second cross members are so placed that said one longitudinal edge of each is its upper edge, the upper edges of the thus-placed first and second cross members will lie in a horizontal plane when the legs of the trestle occupy a plane vertical with respect to the ground and whereby when said lirst and second cross members are so placed that said one longitudinal edge of said first cross member is its upper edgc and said one longitudinal edge of said second cross member is its lower edge, the upper edges of the thus-placed first and second cross members will lie in a horizontal plane when the legs of the Ytrestle occupy a plane which is inclined with respect to the ground.

2. A support trestle as defined in claim 1 wherein each of the tubular walls of said first and said second tubular legs is provided with an opening extending along the longitudinal axis of each of said first and said second tubular legs.

3. A support trestle for supporting a piece of work comprising, in combination: a first tubular leg and a second tubular leg, one end of each of said legs being bevelled to provide smooth jaws for gripping an object to be supported; a first cross member and a second cross member, each of said cross members being provided with a plurality of perforations located therein, said perforations in each of said cross members being closer to one longitudinal edge of said cross member than to the other longitudinal edge; and a pair of bolts for connecting together said first and second legs and said first and second cross members, whereby when said first and second cross members are so placed that said one longitudinal edge of each is its upper edge, the upper edges of the thus-placed first and second cross members will lie in a horizontal plane when the legs of the trestle occupy a plane vertical with respect to the ground and whereby when said iirst and second cross members are so placed that said one longitudinal edge of said first cross member is its upper edge and said one longitudinal edge of said second crossl member is its lower edge, the upper edges of the thusplaccd first and second cross members will lie in a horizontal plane when the legs of the trestle occupy a plane which is inclined with respect to the ground.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,662,700 Dyer Mar. 13, 1928 1,699,035 Tjelde Jan. l5, 1929 2,136,420 Edwards Nov. l5, 1938 2,706,661 Clayton Apr. 19, 1955 2,793,003 Borchers May 2l, l957 FOREIGN PATENTS 163,333 Switzerland Oct. 2, 1933 

